essay prompts for tuck everlasting

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Tuck Everlasting Essay Topics & Writing Assignments

Essay Topic 1

Describe the relationships between the members of the Tuck family. Compare those to the relationships between the members of the Foster family.

Essay Topic 2

What is it that Tuck tries to explain to Winnie about life and death? How does Winnie come to realize the truth of Tuck's words?

Essay Topic 3

Winnie faces a dilemma when the stranger has been injured regarding what she should wish for. What is this dilemma and what does Winnie come to realize about the situation?

Essay Topic 4

Jesse and Miles are brothers but have very different attitudes about what they must do with their immortality. Discuss these differences in detail.

Essay Topic 5

What is the significance of the toad? Describe three scenes in which Winnie sees a toad and the significance of each scene. What might the toad represent?

Essay Topic 6

Describe Winnie's life prior to her chance encounter with...

(read more Essay Topics)

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Tuck Everlasting

By natalie babbitt.

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Sample of Discussion & Essay Questions

• In Chapter 2, there are several clues that something's a little weird about Mae and her husband. Name a few of these such clues, and discuss your first thoughts when you came across them: Were you surprised by the revelation that they hadn't aged for 87 years? Were you immediately envious? (We were, until we thought about looking like a potato for almost nine decades.)

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W hy's T his F unny?

A Tuck Everlasting Study Guide: Questions and Answers with Downloadable Version

• Donna Cosmato
• Categories : Literature study guides and chapter summaries
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Though Provoking Questions

Here are some thought-provoking questions and answers to study for quizzes on Tuck Everlasting . These questions are based on a general summary of the book’s key elements.

• What is the setting for the story? (The imaginary town of Treegap.)
• Who are the main characters? (The main characters are Winnie Foster, the Tuck family (Mae, Angus, Miles, and Jesse), and the man in the yellow suit (MIYS).
• What is Winnie’s role? (She is the connecting link between the Fosters, the Tucks, and the MIYS. The hub of the story wheel, she interacts with the other spokes.)
• What are the three main events of the story? (Winnie’s kidnapping, arrival of the MIYS, the Tuck reunion.)
• What is the main theme? (The main theme is a family who never ages because they drank from a magic creek in the Fosters’ wood, and their quest to keep the stream secret. The MIYS is the antagonist, Winnie is the protagonist, the Tucks try to persuade her to keep the secret.)

Reader Retention Comprehension Questions

For students: see how many of these questions you can answer without checking the answers to test retention. For teachers: download a copy of the questions and use it as a quiz or a review of the reading material.

• What item does Mae always carry?
• How does Winnie discover the Tuck secret?
• Why do the Tucks kidnap Winnie?
• How does the MIYS find out about the water’s magical powers?
• How do Winnie’s feelings change during her stay with the Tucks?
• Why must the secret of the water be kept?
• What does the MIYS demand in exchange for helping find Winnie?
• What happens at the Tuck’s house when the MIYS arrives?
• What is the consequence of Mae’s action?
• How does Mae escape the gallows?
• Jesse gives Winnie a present and asks her to do something. What does he want?
• What does Winnie do with the precious water?
• How do Angus and Mae discover Winnie’s fate?

Answer Key for Study Questions

Here are suggested answers to the study questions for Tuck Everlasting :

• She always carries her music box.
• She sees Jesse drinking from the spring.
• They want to tell her their story and convince her not to tell about the spring.
• He is hiding in the woods and hears the explanation.
• At first, she is excited by the adventure. During dinner, she feels uncomfortable eating with strangers and wants to go home. Bedtime causes her anxiety as she longs for familiar surroundings and belongings.
• According to Angus Tuck, “If people knowed about the spring down there in Treegap, they’d all coming running like pigs to slops.” He describes the horror of being alive forever and never knowing the release of death.
• He insists the Fosters’ give him the woods.
• He tells of his search for a family that never ages, based on stories told by his grandmother. He describes his plans for exploiting the spring for money, and tries to take Winnie by coercion. Mae strikes him with a shotgun.
• The constable is an eyewitness and arrests her, predicting her death penalty. Since Mae cannot die, the hanging will expose the secret.
• Miles uses his carpentry skills to open a window for her escape. Winnie takes her place in the cell to give the Tuck family time to run away.
• Jesse gives Winnie a bottle of spring water. He asks her to keep it until she is 17, drink it, and then find him. His last words to her are “Remember.”
• She pours it on her toad to save its life.
• Tuck finds her tombstone in the local cemetery.

Understanding the theme, setting, and motivations of the characters in this book adds to the enjoyment of the novel and helps students stay focused and entertained. Extend the lesson by planning a fun day at the end of the unit and showing the film for comparison.

• Classroom experience.

This post is part of the series: English Literature Lesson Plans Tuck Everlasting Unit

Here is a series of lesson plans for the novel Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt. Study questions and answers, character sketches, and a book summary are included.

• Tuck Everlasting Study Questions and Answers
• A Tuck Everlasting Lesson Plan on Summary
• Teacher Lesson Plans: Tuck Everlasting Characters
• Teacher Lesson Plans: Tuck Everlasting Activities

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Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt Thesis Statements and Essay Topics

Below you will find four outstanding thesis statements / paper topics for “Tuck Everlasting” by Natalie Babbitt that can be used as essay starters. All four incorporate at least one of the themes found in “Tuck Everlasting” and are broad enough so that it will be easy to find textual support, yet narrow enough to provide a focused clear thesis statement. These thesis statements offer a short summary of “Tuck Everlasting” in terms of different elements that could be important in an essay. You are, of course, free to add your own analysis and understanding of the plot or themes to them. Using the essay topics below in conjunction with the list of important quotes from  “Tuck Everlasting”  on our quotes page, you should have no trouble connecting with the text and writing an excellent essay.

Thesis Statement #1: Tuck Everlasting and Immortality

In the novel, each of the members of the Tuck family views immortality differently. For Miles and Jesse, it is a blessing that allows them to see the world and make a much larger impact than they could if they were mortal. For Jesse and Miles it is worth the sacrifice of being alone. However, their parents, Mae and Angus feel that immortality took from them everything that made living worthwhile. For this essay, analyze why the family members feel differently about immortality. Is their age a factor or their separate experiences? Who is right and who is wrong?

Thesis Statement #2: Tuck Everlasting and the Wheel of Fortune

Wheels are a recurring symbol in Tuck Everlasting and they have often been used throughout history as a symbol of life and fate. It harkens back to the idea of the Goddess Fortuna spinning the wheel in order to decide one’s fate. For this essay, find all the symbolic uses of the wheel throughout the story. What is Babbitt trying to say about fate and the lives of the Tucks and Winnie? Are the Tucks subject to Fortuna’s wheel just as other mortals?

Thesis Statement #3: Tuck Everlasting and the Toad

The toad is found at the beginning and the end of the novel. A toad is Winnie’s first friend in the beginning of the novel and at the end of the novel Jesse finds a toad in the road. Jesse makes it a point to save the toad and carry it over to the grass. Toads themselves also go through a very significant metamorphosis through their life, much as Winnie does in the novel. For this essay, analyze the significance of the toad. What does the toad represent? Why does Babbitt choose to use a toad to get the message across?

Thesis Statement #4: Tuck Everlasting and the Man in the Yellow Suit

The Man in the Yellow Suit is never given a name or much of a personality beyond what he hopes to accomplish. He is constantly lurking in the shadows, which foreshadows his evil purpose. His actions and his goals are very clearly described as being wrong. For this essay, analyze why Babbitt chose to refer to the Man in the Yellow Suit as the stranger or as the Man in the Yellow suit. What is the symbolism behind the yellow suit. How would it change the story if the Man in the Yellow Suit had a name? Was Mae right to kill him?

Tuck Everlasting

82 pages • 2 hours read

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Chapter 25-Epilogue

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Tuck Everlasting Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer sections of our study guides are a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss literature.

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Tuck Everlasting

What are 5 clues that helped the tucks relize that " there was something pecilure", what simile did the author use to describe how tuck made winnie feel, summarize the conversation that the man in the yellow suit has with winnie’s family. what surprising thing do you learn about him, summarize the conversation that the man in the yellow suit has with winnie’s family. what surprising thing do you learn about him cite evidence, why do think mae siad, " and we figured itd be verry bad if evryone knowed about that spring"., what mood does the author create in the prologue, what is the summary, tuck everlasting, in tuck everlasting you will meet many people. start a list of characters to refer back to while you read this book, what do mae, miles, and jesse think about living forever. what are they're comments and feelings about this, tuck everlasting, in which the author assigns human characteristics to object is called, who does tuck help at the very end of the story, is "crushed by as much outrage as by shock" (p. 34) a simile, what did angus tuck mean when he asked his wife does she know, how do the two sides of the wood seem different, was winnie comfortable in the tucks house, what is the best theme for this novel, why didn't miles give his wife and children water from the spring, winnie foster, why is winnie so surprised at the appearance of the wood.

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